Brandon Lyon to be examined for shoulder weakness

CINCINNATI — A day after blowing his fourth save in eight chances, Brandon Lyon is flying back to Houston to be examined for what the team describes as weakness in his right shoulder. Dr. David Lintner will see Lyon and have an MRI performed later today.

Righthander Mark Melancon will take over as closer in Lyon’s absence.

After Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Reds, Lyon was unavailable to speak about his physical condition, and manager Brad Mills had said that as far as he knew, there was nothing physically wrong.

However, Mills and Ed Wade said today that there had been some concern about Lyon in the recent past. He had been getting treatment for some minor inflammation of his biceps tendons and the shoulder had come up before.

“We’ve had some questions about whether the strength in there is exactly where it needs to be,” Mills said. “To get that fully addressed, we wanted to get an MRI and see exactly where it was.”

According to the baseball statistics site Fangraphs.com, Lyon’s average fastball velocity is down this year from 91.6 to 90.4 miles per hour. His fastball topped out at 90 in the ninth inning Wednesday.

Meanwhile, here is today’s lineup against the Reds and season debutant RHP Homer Bailey: